Anybody here have back pain problems??

[Denis1985]

I do and im only 23 years old! I started detailling 3 years ago and im starting to have lower back pain.


Im seriously thinking about buying a car lift to work on the car without lowering by back. And be able to work on the side of the car at my height!


www liftsuperstore.com/web/liftsandaccessories/index.php

What do you think about the


HEMI ROAD RUNNER


And the

Low rider ?

[ColonelCash]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Invest a couple hundred in going to see a Dr. Your back could be out of alignment, or something else wrong internally. If so, fix that and save your money on the lift (unless you just have to have one).

[CieraSL]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Or you could just skip the doctor and go to a chiropractor. A chiropractor will actually fix the problem, whereas a doctor will just give you meds to try to cover up the pain.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Stretch, before and after your work.... We do it on the RR and it has really helped me.

Try to bend without twisting, squat when you can (of course your knees will hurt later in life from squating)...
Go to Home Depot, or Lowe's and pick up a gardening mat, they are a soft plastic covered foam pad for kneeling on....

Oh and stretch allot!!!!

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Instead of a lift for the car. Get yourself a mechanics rolling stool. I use one all the time. Saves a lot on my back.

Also go see a chiropractor. They are great at fixing the problem.

[10degreesbtdc]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Dude! Sorry to hear of your back pain. I hurt my back in 1990 and had 5 surgeries and multiple (many, many) other procedures over a 15 year period, most requiring anesthetic. Injections, pain management, electric nerve therapy, botched surgeries performed by idiots!!!...OUCH

Finally had a fusion at the skilled hands of a great ortho surgeon in '06 and I feel great! I just don't do (after 15 years of pain and insomnia and learning how to properly bend, lift, sit, work and exercise/stretch) things I know will or could cause that pain to come back again or worse, injure my back again. Wanna know why it's taking so long to get my truck rigged for mobile detailing? Because I take the time to move and lift the smart way!

I agree with you getting a mechanics seat/creeper and for getting the rocker panels and around under the bumpers/fenders lay down, I use a creeper and roll and polish. Put your products and pad in a roll around tray or on the shelf of the mechanics stool. Don't bend to try to get low areas! Squat when you can instead of bending over or roll around on the stool each pass you make around the car. You'll be surprise how much better you'll feel at the end of a long day if you spent most of it sitting down. And...when sitting and working sit as close as you can to what you're working on. Holding weight out from your body increases the load and strain on your low back tremendously.

This is assuming you are not going to see a doctor. Chiropractors helped me alot...NOT. They made it worse. I had a severely pinched nerve, degenerating discs and it was torture for nothing. Some get relief and much needed spine alignment from them though. If you do see a ortho/ surgeon for advice, make sure he's a good one! Make sure he's a good one! Make sure he's a good one! Get it? It takes forever for them to treat you and by the time you find out you've gone to a quack you'll be out a ton of money and maybe have had unneeded procedures. I can't stress that enough. Make sure you see a good, reputable, successful, well-trained doctor with a long history of healing people, not handing out drugs and cutting people every every chance they get.

Get an inversion table. It lets you hang upside down while laying down and you don't have to go all the way upside down if you don't want. They are great for relief from fatigue and take stress off your spinal cord. Also getting in water was the best thing when I was in pain. It's the closest thing to being in outer space for weightlessness (gravity is what causes our spine to compress and we aggrevate it with lifting, bending, etc...) An inversion table is almost like being in a pool for relief, maybe better.

1) Learn how to work, bend and lift properly using your legs! Don't twist if you can help it (yeah like you can detail without twisting) and don't ever twist and lift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I learned, through years of pain, how to do things without using my back. Sounds weird, but true.

2) Stretch regularly and properly. Get some good, doctor or sports therapy approved stretch info and stick to it on a daily basis or even more often. If you're back is hurting it's telling you that enough is enough, take a break and stretch, lay down for a few minutes and let your muscles relax. Fatiqued muscles pinch nerves, pinched nerves cause muscles to tense up...and on and on until the pain is excrutiating! Learn how to sit properly when you're not doing anything. Don't slouch. I also use a pillow between my legs when sleeping to relive the strain on my low back. It works.

3) Use ice on it regularly, or heat if ice doesn't work. Alternate between the two sometimes. 20 minutes on 20 minutes off. This helped me before I had my last surgery. If anything makes it worse, don't do it.

4) Use Aleve if it's safe for you. Works much better than Ibuprofen (Tylanol)

5) Put all the things you can up where you don't have to bend over to get them. This reduces pain and disc damage a lot. If you drop something and have another one, just kick it under the table and get the other one. Seriously, I did this when I was really in pain. I had so many pencils, pens, dropped vitamins and misc under tables and furniture it was a mess, but I didn't aggravate my back when it was really telling me not to bend over!

There are many more things to do - not to do when you have back problems. You're young. Start learning and practicing good body mechanics now! Think of what if: you don't do anything or keep doing the wrong things for the next 30 years...do you kow how much pain you will be in then? Or you may be the source of someone elses attention to detail. (a surgeon's)

Hope this helps and Feel better soon!
Steve

[Tom Weed]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Others here have offered some really good advice, only thing I will add is a strong core will take pressure off of your back. I've had back problems for years and a few years back, I started swimming laps and along with doing core exercises and stretching, I've not had a problem since.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Others here have offered some really good advice, only thing I will add is a strong core will take pressure off of your back. I've had back problems for years and a few years back, I started swimming laps and along with doing core exercises and stretching, I've not had a problem since.

Excellent advice. I raced bicycles for ten years and in the early season my limiting factor wasn't my legs, lungs or heart..... it was my back. On long climbs (like 10 miles or more) it would tighten up and start to slow me down dramatically. Crunches and hyperextensions did the trick, and once I figured that out I no longer cared about how long and steep a climb was.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

What the others have said. I get pain in my lower back that radiates to my hips if I spend more than an hour driving. I'm pretty sure it has to do with a spinal alignment problem that my doctor first identified back in February. Go see your regular doctor and have him check the curvature of your spine - you might have a slight scoliosis condition. Your regular doctor can then write you a prescription to see a Chiropractor which would cover your sessions under your medical insurance.

[TRIPOWER1]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

I had lower back pain and started to to a general core work out on my lower back and my pain is gone, i work my core by doing sit up's, push up's, and planks along with alot of streching, i feel great and the only time i feel any pain is when i dont do any exercise.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Yes get a lift
You can do better work on the lower panels and save your back

[Nappers]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

I do, but I'm old and fat.....

[john m.]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

Seeing as im only 18 Im still young and havent really had to worry about back pain and such, heck, 10degrees was messing with back pain before I was born that being said and after seeing how bad it can get Im glad to see this so I can make sure to do the right things as to not cause problems in the future! The only thing that has ever bothered me was after a full day of detailing after not working in a long time I was sore, but nothing other than that.

[Details]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

I go to the gym everyday, and to the chiropractor, once or twice a week!!! i work on ferraris all day long without problems! lol 3 foot tall cars. Another thing that helps alot is knee pads. If you dont like that just sit on your but when you do the side of cars. And when your doing quarter panels, bend over properly!!!! bend your knees and slightly at the waist, with a straight back!!! your tooo young for back pain

[Kareen Paul]

Re: Anybody here have back pain problems??

when i do keep awake at night. I often suffer from this sickness. it makes my life dull.